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Clinton Foundation Heads Downtown

The William J. Clinton Foundation will soon be trading its Harlem offices for new digs in downtown Manhattan.

The foundation expects to sign a 10-year lease in the coming weeks for about 25,000 square feet at 77 Water St. in Manhattan’s Financial District, according to a person familiar with the terms. The foundation currently occupies about 19,000 square feet at 55 West 125th St. on a lease that expires this summer.

The move comes even though former President Bill Clinton himself is expected to keep his own offices for another 10 years in the 14-story Harlem building.

That lease, for 8,715 square feet on the building’s top floor, was negotiated by the U.S. General Services Administration.

Mr. Clinton’s nonprofit opted to move its offices to cut costs and better accommodate growth, according to an e-mailed statement from Laura Graham, the foundation’s chief operating officer. “We’re proud to have spent the better part of the last decade in Harlem, and look forward to contributing to the continued revitalization of the downtown area,” Ms. Graham wrote. CB Richard Ellis represented the Clinton Foundation in its lease negotiations.